Obviously, there’s a good deal of work yet to do, but it’s really remarkable how much difference sheet rock makes– between Day 8 and Day 9, it goes from looking like a construction site to looking like a room that just needs a little finishing. I have pictures from other corners, but this is the only complete set (it’s taken from the door from the kitchen into the garage), as there were a few days when there was so much stuff piled in one of the corners that I couldn’t get there to take a picture.

The background here is that with FutureBaby on the way, we need to transform our spare bedroom into a nursery, which means we need somewhere to put all the paperback books that are currently stored there. The house came with a built-in garage that was too narrow for me to be comfortable getting my car in and out, which we were just using as storage space, and I eventually convinced Kate that it made sense to turn that into a family room/office sort of thing, with built-in bookshelves and cabinets on the long walls. That will dramatically increase the storage space we have available, and allow us to move all the hardcovers out of the current office, converting it to a spare bedroom, and making room for FutureBaby.

They started work here about two weeks ago, and as you can see, the progress has been impressive. There’s probably another week or two to go, and then we get the fun of moving all the furniture around…

You can see the full collection of construction pictures in this Flickr set, including shots of the new doorway cut from the garage into the living room.

Comments

You may have violated hundreds of regulatory statutes legislated to protect you. Did you emit visible plumes? Did you sewer chemical wastes? Formaldehyde from the chip board? Release of (respirable) air-borne particulates? Up to $10K/incident-day EPA for starters. Did you file building permits with the city? Are you inspected? Do you have a contractor’s license? ARE YOU A TURTLE?

Did you run a Geiger counter over the wallboard? Gypsum “recycled” from superphosphate manufacture concentrates uranium, thorium, and decay daughters.

Uncle Al doesn’t see high efficency compact fluorescent bulbs and a composting toilet. OTOH, said room may be used to house your family when the mandated Federal Enviro-whiner confessor is assigned to your home. Freedom is compliance.

I was going to say, someday Young Creature Orzel will be all, “OMG, Mom, Dad, you put me in the GARAGE??” But I see that the garage-transformation is only loosely related to the coming of Young Creature, so you have dodged that adolescent-outrage bullet.

I lived in a house that was being added to one summer when I was about 10, and the weirdest part was standing in the new section, looking through the (much larger than a door) holes into the old section, before construction was completed. It was like looking into a gigantic dollhouse: you never see a whole room laid out like that, to ignore the gaping hole, except in toys and on TV.

My lab in grad school was next to the Building Materials Lab at Ohio State. We were seperated by double steel doors with little windows. They would build a whole room, with carpet and furniture, like a dollhouse room, then burn it. They’d measure the toxic vapors produced.

Now that’s a weird experience, to watch the Brady Bunch’s living room merrily burning at the end of the corridor. Although I suppose it’s fairly common in Hollywood.

Books

You've read the blog, now try the books:

Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist will be published in December 2014 by Basic Books. "This fun, diverse, and accessible look at how science works will convert even the biggest science phobe." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "In writing that is welcoming but not overly bouncy, persuasive in a careful way but also enticing, Orzel reveals the “process of looking at the world, figuring out how things work, testing that knowledge, and sharing it with others.”...With an easy hand, Orzel ties together card games with communicating in the laboratory; playing sports and learning how to test and refine; the details of some hard science—Rutherford’s gold foil, Cavendish’s lamps and magnets—and entertaining stories that disclose the process that leads from observation to colorful narrative." --Kirkus ReviewsGoogle+

How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog is published by Basic Books. "“Unlike quantum physics, which remains bizarre even to experts, much of relativity makes sense. Thus, Einstein’s special relativity merely states that the laws of physics and the speed of light are identical for all observers in smooth motion. This sounds trivial but leads to weird if delightfully comprehensible phenomena, provided someone like Orzel delivers a clear explanation of why.” --Kirkus Reviews "Bravo to both man and dog." The New York Times.

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is published by Scribner. "It's hard to imagine a better way for the mathematically and scientifically challenged, in particular, to grasp basic quantum physics." -- Booklist "Chad Orzel's How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is an absolutely delightful book on many axes: first, its subject matter, quantum physics, is arguably the most mind-bending scientific subject we have; second, the device of the book -- a quantum physicist, Orzel, explains quantum physics to Emmy, his cheeky German shepherd -- is a hoot, and has the singular advantage of making the mind-bending a little less traumatic when the going gets tough (quantum physics has a certain irreducible complexity that precludes an easy understanding of its implications); finally, third, it is extremely well-written, combining a scientist's rigor and accuracy with a natural raconteur's storytelling skill." -- BoingBoing